president told us chemical weapons uses aa question mark. now vice president biden saying there's no doubt chemical weapons were used and defense secretary chuck hagel says u.s. forces in the region are ready to go with armed u.s. warships already in the region. iran warning of a disaster if the u.s. intervenes in syria. we're covering all the angles of the story including the only western network reporter on the ground inside syria. let's begin with chris lawrence at the pentagon. chris, what's the latest in. >> reporter: military officials say once they get the order they could be ready to go within hours but while obama administration officials continue to verbally hammer bashar al assad we're still waiting to get the hard evidence that he's responsible. the latest warning to syria comes directly from the white house. >> those who use chemical weapons against defenseless men, women and children, should and